"You are totally without discipline and I wonder how you will ever become a knight," Geoffrey stated. "Now stand and follow me. I will put you to work so that you cannot get into further mischief."
"Husband? May I have a moment with you?" Elizabeth 's softly spoken question felt like a tender stroke against his heart.
"Go and wait for me at the bottom of the steps," he told the child.
As soon as the door shut behind the child, Geoffrey began to chuckle.
"It really isn't funny," Elizabeth said with exasperation. "Father let him run like a wild cub. He has absolutely no manners."
"He is not so very bad," Geoffrey answered, "and in time he will learn what is expected of him."
"Sara told me that you ordered the packing begun," Elizabeth said, changing the subject. "What-"
"I was going to tell you tonight, when we were alone," Geoffrey said. He was still cautious when he visited with his new wife, for he enjoyed the temporary settlement between them and did not wish it to end. "We will leave for my home in a fortnight. I must see to a matter away from here, first," he said, deliberately not telling her his destination or intent, "but it will not take overly long, and when I return I wish you ready."
"And Thomas?" Elizabeth asked, finding herself dreading his answer. She clasped her hands together behind her back so that he would not see her trembling.
"He will stay here with your grandfather as his temporary guardian for a time," Geoffrey said. "I do not wish to pull him from what is so familiar to him yet. He has been through enough changes for a time." He smiled at his wife when he saw her surprised reaction to his words. "You think me such a monster that I would not consider the boy's feelings?"
"I do not," Elizabeth whispered, returning his smile. "I think you most reasonable."
"Next summer Thomas will come to live with us. That should give me ample time to nail down my possessions so that he cannot destroy them."
His jest concerning her brother's wildness and clumsiness widened her smile. She nodded her agreement and said, "I will help you, husband." She walked over to him, shy but determined, and put her arms around his waist. "Then you will not send my brother to the king?" she asked. "You have changed your mind?"
"I have," Geoffrey admitted, liking the feel of her against him. He stroked her hair and added, "I find that lately I have changed my mind about many issues."
"Such as?" Elizabeth inquired, smiling up at him.
He started to answer but Elizabeth reached up and kissed him before he could utter a word. He returned the light touch with another and then another. "Such as liking your affection for me," be said finally. "I have become most accustomed to your blatant displays, wife, understanding, of course, how you cannot help yourself."
Elizabeth laughed and a sparkle entered her eyes. Geoffrey had come to know that certain look and waited for the jest or trap she was about to set. Aye, he thought to himself, he was beginning to understand her well.
"Think you so irresistible?" she asked.
"In truth, I did not, until you came into my life," he answered. "The scar bothers many," he said when she began to place soft kisses, one after another along the length of it, "but you…" He could not remember what he was saying as his wife's mouth had reached the lobe of his ear and her warm breath was making him warm with desire. "Stop this foolishness, wife," Geoffrey demanded. "It is daylight and there is much I must see to." He tried to keep his voice strong and determined but knew he failed miserably.
Elizabeth pulled back and gave him a long, sultry look. "Aye, husband," she agreed in a whisper that felt like a stroke against his groin, "there is much to be done."
Geoffrey pulled her back into his arms and kissed her hungrily. "You are without discipline, wife," he told her with a sigh.
It had begun as a game for her, this intent to show him that he found her irresistible too, but Elizabeth forgot her aim. The game was ended with his ravishing kisses, his exciting promises whispered against her ear.
She did not remember later who undressed whom, or how, only knew the explosion to her senses when she was back in his arms and skin was touching, caressing skin.
"So hot, Geoffrey," he heard her moan against his mouth, "you make me so-"
His tongue stopped her words, thrusting inside with velvet insistence.
Elizabeth let her wild need take over. She dug her nails into his shoulders when he turned her and braced her against the wall and entered her. He wasn't gentle with her, nor she with him. He held her against his hips and tried to concentrate on slowing the pace, wanting her to find fulfillment before he, but her frenzied movement against him made that thought leave his mind. He drove into her again and again, as wild now as she, and barely heard her throaty cries against his shoulder.
"I love you, Geoffrey." The words, the verbal commitment, tumbled out with her physical release. She could no more stop their flow than she could stop the tremors racking her body. "I do, I do," she whispered as a litany when she felt her husband shudder against her.
Elizabeth rested her head on his shoulder, traced a circle with the tip of her tongue, tasting the salty perspiration she had caused, inhaled the rich, sensual scent that was Geoffrey, and glorified in pleasured contentment. He was holding her so tightly against him that she had trouble catching her breath, but she didn't mind or make protest. She closed her eyes in blissful peace and relaxed her grip on him.
Geoffrey's breathing slowed, but he continued to hold her against him, unwilling yet to let the moment pass. "You intoxicate me," he whispered in a husky voice.
"Just as you intoxicate me," Elizabeth answered. Her voice sounded lazy and as soft and light as her mood. She smiled and knew that she was smiling inside as well.
Geoffrey straightened his shoulders and let Elizabeth slide to the floor. He was looking intently into her eyes, as if he was searching for something there, Elizabeth thought.
Her lips were swollen from his kisses, her eyes wide with innocent trust, and Geoffrey thought she was the most beguiling, most enchanting woman in the world.
"I have not pleased you?" Elizabeth asked in confusion. She did not understand why he continued to look at her so intently.
Geoffrey placed his hands on the sides of her face and answered, "You have said that you love me, Elizabeth. Was it spoken in passion only or did you mean it?" He frowned then, waiting for her answer, his heart suspended above the abyss of uncertainty.
"I love you." She admitted the truth again in a shy voice and wished that he would let her go so that she could shield herself from his stare. She was opening herself to him, giving him the vulnerability she usually kept well hidden and protected. "I did not know it until I said it," she whispered then.
Geoffrey smiled, his eyes full of tenderness. He rubbed the side of her cheek with his thumb before leaning down and kissing her gently on her lips. "You please me, wife," he whispered. "I do not know about love as you do. My years of training did not expose me to such feelings." Geoffrey let go of her then and began to pick up his clothes. Elizabeth stood still, willing him to continue his speech.
Geoffrey knew that she waited and found himself irritated that she wanted more from him. He ignored her while he dressed and then turned back to her. "I am most pleased that you love me," Geoffrey said. "And mayhap when I am an old man I will tell you the same." His arrogant voice stunned Elizabeth and she folded her arms in front of her, ready to do battle. She realized then that she was quite naked, and hurried over to the foot of the bed to reach her robe. When she was covered and the belt secured, she turned back to him and said, "I have not asked for your love, Geoffrey, and God's truth, I do not know why I love you."